KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Southeastern Louisiana College collects Christmas bushes for Manchac Swamp restoration.
- Program has recycled 45,000 bushes over 31 years.
- Bushes assist management erosion and create wildlife habitats.
- Drop-off runs Jan. 6 by means of the day after Mardi Gras at a number of native websites.
Southeastern Louisiana College is inviting native residents to present their used Christmas bushes a second life by supporting wetland restoration efforts.
The college’s Turtle Cove Environmental Analysis Station will acquire discarded bushes to assist rebuild marshes within the Manchac Swamp, a follow it has maintained for 31 years.
“Recycled Christmas bushes will be put again to work in our space marshes, whereas additionally lowering the waste going into landfills,” mentioned Rob Moreau, supervisor of Turtle Cove, positioned between Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas.
This system depends on native companions, together with the Southeastern Sustainability Heart, the cities of Hammond and Ponchatoula, Middendorf’s Restaurant, and the Hammond Downtown Improvement District. Volunteers, together with Southeastern college students from environmental consciousness courses, will deploy the bushes in mid-March to manage shoreline erosion and create habitats for wildlife.
Roughly 45,000 bushes have been deployed by means of this system over the previous three a long time.
“This effort additionally offers hands-on environmental training alternatives for college kids and group members,” mentioned Ariel Ebanks, Turtle Cove’s training and outreach coordinator.
Residents can drop off their bushes beginning Jan. 6 by means of the day after Mardi Gras at a number of areas, together with the Hammond upkeep facility, the Southeastern Sustainability Heart, Middendorf’s Restaurant, and designated websites in Ponchatoula and St. John the Baptist Parish. Bushes should be freed from ornaments, lights, tinsel, and metallic fixtures. Flocked bushes is not going to be accepted.
Town of Hammond will transport collected bushes to Turtle Cove’s Galva Canal parking space till they’re deployed within the spring. For extra info, contact Moreau at [email protected] or Ebanks at [email protected], or go to www.southeastern.edu/turtlecove.
Donations to assist this system will be despatched to the Southeastern Basis – c/o Turtle Cove, Field 10585, Hammond, LA 70402, or made on-line by means of the Turtle Cove web site.
